Planet-hating Council says students have no part in Earth’s salvation

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The Wellington Youth Council’s calls for the introduction of recycling facilities at central city apartments and university hostels have been met with inaction from the City Council.
Currently in Wellington, there are 10,000 residents in 3,500 apartment buildings and approximately 2,400 students in 15 different hostels. However, despite a policy of “[encouraging] greater reuse, recycling and recovery in the wider community,” residents in these buildings are not provided with recycling options.

“Costs” have been cited as the biggest obstacle, with Youth Council member and university student Waruna Padmasiri estimating that it would cost approximately $10,000 for all university hostels to recycle.

The City Council’s annual budget allocation for recycling is over $1.7 million.

Suggestions made to the City Council by the Youth Council include funding to collect recycling from hostels through contractors, or allowing hostels to use the curb-side recycling system.

“At the moment, the [City Council] keeps saying that it’s up to the individual ‘business’ to take responsibility,” says Padmasiri. “[But] there is no reason for the hostels to bother with it, when it will cost them more than it will cost to use a big skip bin.”

Padmasiri is currently organising a petition and is planning a recycling audit at some of the hostels. He welcomes volunteers.

Comments (2)

This is such a poorly research and written article. Sure, it would be nice if there was recycling at the hostels. However, there was a recycling scheme at Wier House a few years ago, but this failed. First year students abused it. I suggest that this will happen again if it were to be available at all hostels.

Also, why should the council use rate payers money to subsided private business. The university pays for its own recycling.

The youth council and Seonah have no idea about the real world. It’s sad you write and use such a goddamn awful headline/ article.

The gist of it, private business has to pay for its own waste, and not the tax payer. That is all.

The key issue is that apartments and hostels are currently not being provided with recycling facilities. Residents in these apartments and hostel management pay rates. Although university hostels are technically “private” businesses, they provide accommodation for students at below-market prices, to quote Waruna, and the cost is very high for these hostels to commission commercial trucks to implement recycling without the help of the Council.

Furthermore, it’s a little hasty at the very least to write off recycling in hostels altogether based on the behaviour of some students a number of years ago. I have spoken to the manager of Everton Hall, who provides recycling facilities for her residents at the hall’s expense and she mentioned no issues regarding the running of the scheme.

The gist of it – rate-paying residents in apartments and hostels are not being provided with services that other rate-payers living in other areas are. I think I would be justified in saying that this is unfair.

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